Keeping horses is an expensive hobby! Here are a few tried and tested moneysaving tips.
- Don't buy food your horse doesnt need. Does your pony reeally need 6 bags of feed and 6 tubs of suppliments? You may be spending more than necessary and making your horse unhealthy too. Most horses only need good quality forage and a broad range vitamin and mineral suppliment to keep them happy. See the feeding page for more.
- Let your horse live outside. If possible let your horse live out 24/7. It will be much healthier for him than standing in a stable for most of the day. Stabling is not part of a natural horses lifestyle. Horses are claustrophibic and would never choose to go into a stable in the wild. Standing in a stable for long periods will cause the horse to have a slow circulation of lymph fluid and blood. Lymph vessels and the pheripheral blood system do not have much help from the heart to pump it round. They are assisted by muscle movement, so will become sluggish if exercise is limited. This is why horses get filled legs when they stand in the stable. Unless there is a medical reason why not, try turning your horse out more, even if its just for a few hours more than normal. This will reduce the cost of bedding and hay for the stable and may even save you stabling fees if you opt for turnout instead. Standing in urine soaked bedding in the stable also does damage to the hooves.
- Search for bargains online. I buy most of my horsey items online or from ebay. Items on ebay are sometmes 3 times cheaper than the same item in my local tack shop. Also usin cashback sites such as quidco and topcashback help reduce the cost by giving you cashback on purchases.
- Share callout fees. Try to group together your routine vet visits for vaccinations and the like, with other peopls horses on your yard. If a group of you get your horses vaccinated at the same time, you can share the vets callout fee and save a few pounds.
- Use disposable nappies for poultices. Keep a few in your horses first aid kit. Cut them to size to use as a poultice as they are very absorbent
and will help to draw out pus. They are especially useful when applying
a poultice to the hoof.
- Use supermarkets own brand shampoo. I use cheepo supermarket shampoo and conditioner to wash my horses berfore a show. It is about 30p for a big bottle. Some people say their horses skin is too sensative to use human shampoo but if you look at the ingredients on the bottle, it is pretty much the same as horse shampoo. If you think it is too strong for your horse use cheap baby shampoo which is milder. I have never had a problem using human shampoo on my horses.
- Repair and reproof rugs. If your horses rips his rug, sew it up with waxed plaiting cotton. You can then add a patch over the top if you want, cut from an old rug or similar. If you aren't able to do this, you can get it repaired by someone who can. This will be cheaper than a new rug. Reproof rugs with a can of rug reproofer each year.
- Recycle! Find uses for things that would otherwise be thrown away by other people. Dustbins/wheely bins make great feed bins. Laundry baskets make good skips for skipping out the stable. Empty spray bottles can be used to hold fly spray. Jars can be used to store stuff. Old towels, sponges,cloths and t shirts some in handy for cleaning horses/tack. If you see something being thrown away, have a think if you could use it. Wash everything first of course!
- Buy cheaper alternatives. In other words, avoid the tack shop! You can buy a lot of simple items from the supermarket or pound shop which would cost a lot more at the tack shop. For example vet wrap costs around £4 for 3m at the tack shop. The same bandage is £1 at the pound shop. The only difference is it doesnt come in neon colours and it is labelled "cohesive bandage" You are paying £3 extra for it to be bright pink. Instead of buying special "horse wipes" buy baby wipes from tesco. There are many things you can but cheaper, have a think.
- Go barefoot. (and your horse as well) Your horse doesnt needs shoes. You might think your horse is special and really needs shoes ....but it doesn't. In fact shoes are bad for the horses feet and can cause many many problems. Try researching barefoot horses and see if you think you could take the time to transition your horse. Not only will your horse be healthier but you will save a lot of money in shoes. Your horses feet will still need to be trimmed properly so dont think you can ditch the farrier! (make sure your farrier knows how to do a barefoot trim as it is different to a normal trim) You may need to spend over a hundred pounds on hoof boots at first but think of all the shoeing money saved after that See the barefoot page for more info.
- Make your own horse products Such as fly spray and antiseptic ect. see the "potions" page when it appears!
More coming soon!
|
|